That would be none other than Jack Kent Cooke, who was in Southern California building a media empire.

It was Cooke who built the Lakers’ mystique and oversaw every detail.

How the Forum became fabulous

Part one of the story was told to me by Dr. Ernie Vandeweghe (father of Kiki), who was there from the start. He served as the Lakers team doctor from 1960 until the 1980s. He was born in Montreal, and it was his Canadian roots that made him part of Cooke’s inner circle.

“It started with Jerry West, Elgin Baylor and radio voice Chick Hearn,” Vandeweghe said of the making of the Lakers’ mystique. “Those three men were our building blocks. We had two of the greatest players in the history of the game and a broadcaster who could sell the team with his passion and his love for the game and, most of all, the Lakers.”

What’s the mystique without the star power that only L.A. can provide?

“Mr. Cooke loved celebrities and we would give tickets to the Hollywood studios and they would send stars to the games,” Vandeweghe said. “The more the stars would come, the more they would enjoy the games — but things really took off when we moved from the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena to the Forum, or as Cooke liked to call it, the Fabulous Forum.”

Showtime’s beginning

Part two of the story comes from Shelly Saltman, who served as the vice president of the Forum and was Cooke’s right-hand man during the 1971-72 NBA Championship campaign.

It was a Lakers team that would win 69 games and featured future Hall of Famers West and Wilt Chamberlain and a feisty reserve by the name of Pat Riley.

Saltman was a very successful promoter, broadcast executive and entertainment manager — his work included promoting most of Muhammad Ali’s fights and becoming the first president of FOX Sports.

Cooke tapped him to help run the Lakers, the Kings and the Forum.

Then came the real start of Showtime as we know it.

“Well, we had a good core group with Andy Williams, Herb Alpert, Henry Mancini, Ed Ames and many other musical stars,” Saltman said. “Cooke had the Forum Club where he would host a wonderful dinner prior to every home game and he loved to talk with the stars. He loved music, as a young man in Canada he had a band called ‘Ollie Cooke and his All Stars.’ I actually talked him into composing a theme song that we used on the Lakers’ and Kings’ broadcasts.”

Under Cooke, the Lakers would play in seven NBA finals, but it was the 1971-72 team that would bring him his only NBA title.

“It was the 1971-72 season that put the Lakers forever on the map,” Saltman said. “We were the hottest ticket in town. The Forum Club was the place to be seen. Jack Nicholson, Dyan Cannon and Penny Marshall were among the young stars who were the fans then. In 1971, the mainstays were Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Dean Martin, and Andy Williams — they were ones who got the star power rolling.”

Saltman would leave Cooke after only one year to return to promotion and television.

“I consider my time with Jack Kent Cooke and the Lakers one of the most fun, yet challenging, years of my life. But I wouldn’t have missed it for the world,” said Saltman.

In 1974, Cooke would become the majority owner of the Washington Redskins and gain total ownership in 1985.

It’s interesting to think of what the sports landscape in both L.A. and D.C. would’ve ended up like if Bob Short hadn’t sold the Lakers. Would the stars have come out to play at the Forum and would the Senators have left town a second time?

Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer. Check out his blog, Watch this! on washingtonexaminer.com.